Recycling of spent lithium iron phosphate battery cathode materials: A review

With the new round of technology revolution and lithium-ion batteries decommissioning tide, how to efficiently recover the valuable metals in the massively spent lithium iron phosphate batteries and regenerate cathode materials has become a critical problem of solid waste reuse in the new energy industry. In this paper, we review the hazards and value of used lithium iron phosphate batteries and evaluate different recycling technologies in recent years from the perspectives of process feasibility, environment, and economy, including traditional processes such as mechanical milling, magnetic separation, and flotation, as well as pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes. This paper also introduces the highly promising salt electrolysis and direct regeneration restoration technologies, and we pay special attention to simple and efficient new methods for lithium replenishment restoration, which will provide new insights for a wide range of researchers to implement in-depth experiments.